Shrinking battery availability?

filmamigo · Dec 6, 2007

The usual topic of conversation re: product availability seems to be about film or darkroom supplies.

I am noticing another side effect of the consumer migration to digital cameras: in the last two months, I have noticed that it is increasingly difficult (and expensive) to find disposable batteries on store shelves.

As recently as last year, downtown Toronto was awash with little electronics and camera stores that carries the usual and unusual little batteries that have been favoured in the last 10 years of film cameras. But in the last two months, the CR-2s and CRV-3s etc seem to have all dried up. I now have to trek to a camera superstore like Henrys, or pay through the nose at The Source (nee Radio Shack.) And the selection at Radio Shack is slim enough to make me worried.

This is a bit disconcerting, because these are the batteries from the latest era of film cameras. Thank goodness for AA battery grips -- but I sometimes prefer to use cameras like the Nikon F80, or the Pentax ZX-M, without the battery grip. I feel like without the AA grips, I would be getting really worried...

Has anyone else noticed a decline in battery availability?

nick mulder · Dec 6, 2007

yup - especially the ones used for cds sensors, with the change from mercury to whatever it is the new ones have in them the voltage went higher ! (I think it was 1.3 to 1.5v maybe ?) - fine if you have some kind of voltage regulation, but many an old TTL metering system is now shooting way off target in exposure...

There is the company making the older (poisonous) batteries however - they often pop up on ebay with keywords plugged in so they turn up in many a search (Bolex, Leica, Olympus ... for example) - I decided the planet is worth more so dont use them, but some cameras are paper weights without them... and perhaps always were considering this (like many a digital camera)

copake_ham · Dec 6, 2007

You can find tons and tons of all kinds of batteries on eBay. That's where many of the small vendors have migrated to.

Mike Té · Dec 6, 2007

And then there's PhotoBattery.com for the really obscure. They've come through for me a few times:

http://www.photobattery.com/

eddym · Dec 6, 2007

I've been having trouble finding the old standard button-style MS76 or the lithium 3v equivalent, which replaces two MS76's. My Minolta flash meter takes 6 MS76's, Nikon FE2 and Leica M6 both take 2. They are getting scarce.

Mike Té · Dec 6, 2007

PhotoBattery.com!

PhotoBattery.com!

" 1.5v Silver Oxide replaces MS76, SR44, G13, V76PX, S1154
Single or 4 or 8 pack"

$20 for the 8-pack.

No, I don't own the joint....

eddym said:
I've been having trouble finding the old standard button-style MS76 or the lithium 3v equivalent, which replaces two MS76's. My Minolta flash meter takes 6 MS76's, Nikon FE2 and Leica M6 both take 2. They are getting scarce.

MattKing · Dec 6, 2007

eddym said:
I've been having trouble finding the old standard button-style MS76 or the lithium 3v equivalent, which replaces two MS76's. My Minolta flash meter takes 6 MS76's, Nikon FE2 and Leica M6 both take 2. They are getting scarce.

I've had good results from sr44.com - and they are cheap (25 pack for $16.49 - with free US shipping, and cheap Canadian shipping):

http://www.sr44.com/

Matt

patrickjames · Dec 6, 2007

24hourbatteries has done right by me many a time.

http://www.24hrbatteries.com/

copake_ham · Dec 6, 2007

BTW: If anyone can tell me where I can get PX825 batteries (or a compatible) I'd be very grateful.

Nick Zentena · Dec 7, 2007

I stopped buying batteries in Toronto years back. One battery from Henry's or Radio Shack or anybody else would cost what 10 did on ebay. Worse they would often be covered in dust.

David H. Bebbington · Dec 7, 2007

copake_ham said:
BTW: If anyone can tell me where I can get PX825 batteries (or a compatible) I'd be very grateful.

Closest I can find:
http://www.photobattery.com/PX825.html

crispinuk · Dec 7, 2007

Photobattery need to update that page as they actually sell a direct replacement here:
http://www.photobattery.com/#cr2032
(scroll down a bit, under "Alkaline mercury replacements").

For readers in the EU the Small Battery Company ( http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_px825.htm ) provides a similar service.

srs5694 · Dec 7, 2007

I've also noticed that there are small dealers on eBay selling batteries at very attractive prices. I'm concerned about the quality, though; I've heard of "generic" Chinese-made batteries that leak or are otherwise safety hazards. (This was in reference to more common general-purpose batteries, like AAs or D cells, but the same could be true for button cells.) Therefore, I prefer to buy batteries from well-known manufacturers, at least when they're going into anything I care about. I don't cherish the thought of cleaning nasty goo out of a camera's insides.

srs5694 · Dec 7, 2007

crispinuk said:
For readers in the EU the Small Battery Company ( http://www.smallbattery.company.org.uk/sbc_px825.htm ) provides a similar service.

Even for those not in Europe, the Small Battery Company has an excellent cross-reference tool. I've used it often to find what I need, even though ordering from them would make no sense for me, since I'm in the US.

Tom Hoskinson · Dec 7, 2007

eddym said:
I've been having trouble finding the old standard button-style MS76 or the lithium 3v equivalent, which replaces two MS76's. My Minolta flash meter takes 6 MS76's, Nikon FE2 and Leica M6 both take 2. They are getting scarce.

I currently use Energizer 357/303 Silver Oxide batteries in my cameras and in my HP hand-held calculators. These 1.5V button cells are a direct replacement for the MS76.

filmamigo · Dec 7, 2007

Thanks for pushing me to go online -- I will do that.

Part of why I moved to more modern cameras (the F-80 and the ZX-M) was to avoid the meter battery issues of my older cameras (Spotmatic F, Canon TL, Yashica 12.)

I think my photography future includes using the hand held meter much more often! (It runs on an AA battery.)

Shrinking battery availability?

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